Golf club head with an air-discharging structure

ABSTRACT

A golf club head has a body and a hitting plate. The body has a front side, a rear side, a chamber and a recess. The chamber is defined in the front side, hold a shock absorbing material inside and has a top edge, an opening defined in the front side and at least one air-discharging channel. The air-discharging channel is defined in the top edge and has a depth being small as for allowing air inside the chamber to discharge via the air-discharging channel but keeping the shock absorbing material inside the chamber from exhausting through the air-discharging channel. The recess is defined in the rear side and has a bottom and an injection hole defined through the bottom and communicating with the chamber. The hitting plate is attached to the front side of the body and closes the opening of the chamber.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a golf club head, and more particularly to a golf club head with an air-discharging structure for discharging air from the golf club head during a shock absorbing material forming process.

2. Description of Related Art

To improve a shock absorbing effect, a conventional golf club head is always hollow and embedded with a shock absorbing material with an embedding or injecting process.

To mount a shock absorbing material inside a golf club head has two conventional methods. One method comprises a step of forming the shock absorbing material with a desired shape with a mold and having a size larger than that of a chamber in a body of the golf club. After the shock absorbing material being formed, the shock absorbing material is put into the chamber in the body of the golf club head, and a hitting plate is attached to the body of the golf club head to close the chamber with a welding process.

However, to combine the hitting plate with the body with a welding process, the shock absorbing material is easily damaged with the high temperature during the welding process. Additionally, a mold is necessary for forming the shock absorbing material, the cost for manufacturing a golf club head with a shock absorbing material is high. Furthermore, to make the shock absorbing material fully contacting with the inner surface of the chamber, the preformed shock absorbing material always has a size larger than that of the chamber. However, to embed the shock absorbing material into the chamber, a large force is needed and the shock absorbing material is compressed and deformed. Therefore, the shock absorbing effect provided by the shock absorbing material is reduced.

The other method comprises steps of defining an injection hole in a body of a golf club head and attaching a hitting plate to the body to close a chamber in the body. Glue and shock absorbing material are sequently injected into the chamber through the injection hole, and the shock absorbing material is heated and formed as a shape based on that of the chamber.

However, the air in the chamber cannot be efficiently discharging from the chamber during the shock absorbing material forming process, such that bubbles always generates inside the shock absorbing material and the shock absorbing effect is reduced. Additionally, a vacuuming process can be applied before the injecting step to make the chamber empty, but this will increase the cost for manufacturing a golf club head with a shock absorbing material.

With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, to solve the aforementioned problems, a conventional golf club head comprises a body (20) and a hitting plate (25). The body (20) has a front side and a rear side (21). A chamber (24) is defined in the body (20) and has an opening in the front side of the body (20). An injecting hole (22) and two air-discharging bores (23) are defined in the rear side (21) of the body (20) and communicate with the chamber (24). The body (20) may further have a hollow (201) defined above the chamber (24). The hitting plate (25) is attached to the front side of the body (20), closes the opening of the chamber (24) and the hollow (201) at the front side of the body (20) and has a hitting surface (251). To form shock absorbing material (26) in the chamber (24), the shock absorbing material (26) is injected into the chamber (24) via the injection hole (22) and is heated. With the arrangement of the air-discharging bores (23), air in the chamber (24) can be efficiently discharged to keep bubbles from generating. After the shock absorbing material (26) being formed, the injection hole (22) and the air-discharging bores (23) are sealed.

However, after the holes (22,23) being seal, a polishing process is always needed to flat and smooth the surface of the body (20), but this will cause the process of manufacturing a golf club head with a shock absorbing material (26) complicated.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide a golf club head to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide a golf club head with an air-discharging structure for efficiently discharging air from the golf club head during a shock absorbing material forming process. The golf club head comprises a body and a hitting plate. The body has a front side, a rear side, a chamber and a recess. The chamber is defined in the front side, hold a shock absorbing material inside and has a top edge, an opening defined in the front side of the body and at least one air-discharging channel. The air-discharging channel is defined in the top edge and has a depth being small as for allowing air inside the chamber to discharge via the air-discharging channel but keeping the shock absorbing material inside the chamber from exhausting through the air-discharging channel. The recess is defined in the rear side of the body and has a bottom and an injection hole defined through the bottom of the recess and communicating with the chamber. The hitting plate is attached to the front side of the body and closes the opening of the chamber.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a golf club head in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is another exploded perspective view of the golf club head in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional side view in partial section of the golf club head in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the golf club head in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional golf club head in accordance with the prior art; and

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional side view of the conventional golf club head in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, a golf club head in accordance with the present invention comprises a body (10), a hitting plate (12) and a cover (19). The body (10) has a front side, a rear side (13), a chamber (11) and a recess (14). The chamber (11) defined in the front side, holds a shock absorbing material (18) inside and has a top edge, an opening and at least one air-discharging channel (17). The opening is defined in the front side of the body (10). The at least one air-discharging channel (17) is defined in the top edge of the chamber (11), preferably, two air-discharging channels (17) are defined in the top edge of the chamber (11) respectively near two ends of the top edge. Each air-discharging channel (17) a depth being small as for allowing air inside the chamber (11) to discharge via the at least one air-discharging channel (17) but keeping the shock absorbing material (18) inside the chamber (11) from exhausting through the at least one air-discharging channel (17). In a preferred embodiment, each air-discharging channel (17) has a depth of between 0.1 to 0.008 millimeter and a width of between 5 to 8 millimeter.

The recess (14) is defined in the rear side (13) of the body (10) and has a bottom, an injection hole (15) and two air-discharging bores (16). The injection hole (15) is defined through the bottom of the recess (14) and communicates with the chamber (11). The air-discharging bores (16) are defined through the bottom of the recess (14) and communicate with the chamber (11).

Additionally, the body (10) may further have a hollow (101) defined above the chamber (11) and extending through the front side and the rear side (13).

The hitting plate (12) is attached to the front side of the body (10), may extend to the hollow (101), closes the opening of the chamber (11) and the hollow (101) at the front side of the body and has a hitting surface (121).

The cover (19) is mounted in the recess (14) and covers the injection hole (I5) and the air-discharging bores (16). In practice, the cover (19) may have mark, symbol or figure to improve the attraction of the appearance of the golf club head.

To forming the golf club head, the hitting plate (12) is securely attached to the front side of the body (10) with a welding process to close the opening of the chamber (11). The shock absorbing material (18) is then injected into the chamber (11) through the injection hole (15) and is heated to expand to a shape based on that of the chamber (11). During the shock absorbing material (18) forming process, air in the chamber (11) can be efficiently exhausted from the air-discharging channels (17) and the air-discharging bores (16), such that bubbles can be kept from generating in the shock absorbing material (18). Accordingly, the shock absorbing effect provided by the shock absorbing material (18) is enhanced. Additionally, with attaching the cover (19) into the recess (14) after the shock absorbing material (18) is formed, the injection hole (15) and the air-discharging bores (16) are closed and a further polishing process to the body (10) of the golf club head is unnecessary. Thus, the process for manufacturing the golf club head is simplified. Furthermore, the cover (19) may be transparent to make the shock absorbing material (18) inside the chamber (11) visible so as to fit with different needs of users.

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. 

1. A golf club head comprising: a body having a front side; a rear side; a chamber defined in the front side, holding a shock absorbing material inside and having top edge; an opening defined in the front side of the body; and at least one air-discharging channel defined in the top edge and having a depth being small as for allowing air inside the chamber to discharge via the at least one air-discharging channel but keeping the shock absorbing material inside the chamber from exhausting through the at least one air-discharging channel; and a recess defined in the rear side of the body and having a bottom; and an injection hole defined through the bottom of the recess and communicating with the chamber; and a hitting plate attached to the front side of the body and closing the opening of the chamber.
 2. The golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body further has a hollow defined above the chamber and extending through the front side and the rear side; and the hitting plate extends to and covers the hollow at the front side of the body.
 3. The golf club head as claimed in claim 2, wherein the body has two air-discharging channels defined respectively near two ends of the top edge of the chamber and adjacent to the hitting plate.
 4. The golf club head as claimed in claim 3, wherein each air-discharging channel has a depth of between 0.1 to 0.008 millimeter and a width of between 5 to 8 millimeter.
 5. The golf club head as claimed in claim 4, wherein the body further has a cover mounted in the recess and covering the injection hole.
 6. The golf club head as claimed in claim 5, wherein the body further has two air-discharging bores defined through the bottom of the recess and communicating with the chamber.
 7. The golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein each one of the at least one air-discharging channel has a depth of between 0.1 to 0.008 millimeter and a width of between 5 to 8 millimeter.
 8. The golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body further has a cover mounted in the recess and covering the injection hole.
 9. The golf club head as claimed in claim 8, wherein the body further has two air-discharging bores defined through the bottom of the recess and communicating with the chamber. 